Lauren210

I'm currently halfway done through my second semester of graduate school here at Fordham. I was doing my 100 hour social justice practicum at a Title 1 middle school in lower Manhattan where I was counseling 7th grade students and in the process of doing a case study presentation about one of the students I was counseling over the course of 8 weeks until the coronavirus pandemic hit us. As of last Monday, all of the schools in NYC closed, thus I can't go back to the school I was doing my practicum at nor go back to Fordham for my in-person classes for the rest of the semester since we're doing online. They said that the schools might open by April 20th, but we don't even know if that will even happen and the closure could end up lasting longer. As a first year graduate school, this is certainly not how I wanted my experience to go and it has saddened me because I was starting to know my students more and more over the past few weeks I have been counseling them and if the schools don't open back next month, it will hurt me knowing that two weeks ago, I was seeing my students and not know that that was going to be the last time they will ever see more and vice versa. I'm learning to become a school counselor and it will pain me that I couldn't give my students a proper termination and say goodbye to them. My professor isn't allowing my class to counsel our students via telecommunication given that we're in our first year, we haven't been trained on how to counsel through tools like this, and also because of ethical reasons cause the sessions could be recorded and many of our students are underage, so I may not be able to see them anymore. ? I was also in the process of doing some interviews at a few high schools where I would like to do my internship for my second year in the program and only managed to do one interview a couple weeks before the pandemic became official and before the schools closed. I may have to continue other interviews via webcam, but yeah that was so sudden. I've also been trying to adjust to the online learning at home because I was just getting used to my school and I do like face-to-face classes. While yes it's nice that I can do my classes right from the comforts of home in PJs in bed, it's definitely not the same and I feel the stress of drastic changes and having to self isolate from society in order to keep my health in tact. Like I said, this isn't what I wanted my first year of grad school to be like and I hate how I can't see my professors, classmates, students, friends, or anyone outside of my immediate family in person. It's hard having to be home all the time and having to remind myself to not stare at the screens for too long all day.

I recently graduated with my bachelors in psychology and I worked as a research assistant for two years for two different labs. As an RA, you typically work about 9-10 hours per week. For both labs, we had 1 lab hour dedicated to mandatory lab meetings 1 day of the week while the remaining hours you spent in the laboratory itself. Some tasks I had was entering data into the computer system on excel, typing up transcripts from observational data (i.e. recorded interviews of previous graduate assistants working with their participants), running through drafts of questionaries, running through protocol to participants, etc. For my junior year, I worked in a psychopathology lab that related to the classification, description, and measurement of personality and psychopathology. For my senior year, I worked in a lab that focused on the significance of close relationships (i.e. friendships) in the lives of children and young adolescents. Also, there was at least one graduate RA in their office who we would be able to ask for any help if needed while in the lab or notify them in regards to any of the projects we were helping them on. For the psychology department at my university, there were a variety of different labs to choose on when it came to working in and I found out about some of them through research fairs and the department website. I emailed the lab directors of the labs and expressed interest in working with them the following semester/year and they referred me to their graduate RAs when it came to the application process. After I applied, I had a short interview with one of the graduate RAs and they contacted me back in regards to deciding if I got in or not. Hopefully this helps!

Me too.

I am going to be studying school counseling at Fordham University in their masters program.

I accepted my offer to attend Fordham to pursue my masters in their School Counseling program at GSE this upcoming fall. Who else will be attending the school?

No I have not. I personally don’t even know regarding that as well. I’m not waitlisted either as far as I know. I plan on waiting one more week but by then, if I don’t hear back from TC at the end of next week, I will probably be making my decision to attend at another school out of the ones I was accepted to.

I am also going to be the very first person in my family to ever attend graduate school, which is such an honor to hold and could not be any more proud. Both me and my older brother attended the University at Buffalo for our bachelors, though while I'm about to graduate in May, he already graduated back in May 2016 with a BS in pharmacology and toxicology and spent the last three years working as a research technician. He is also returning back to UB for his second bachelors degree in nursing right after I graduate, which will be an accelerated program that takes him one year to complete. I'm going straight into my masters right after undergrad. I'm completing my BA in psychology with a minor in counseling and will be pursuing my masters in school counseling. Both my parents never attended community college for an associate or a four year university for a bachelors. My mom did, however, attend Lehman College for a 1 year program about 2-3 years ago to receive her certification in medical assisting after co-owning a jewelry store with my dad for 15 years before closing their business. In addition, both my parents were not born in the U.S., come from two different countries (my mom is from Ecuador and my dad is from Vietnam), and arrived to NYC in the late 70s-early 80s. It's definitely not easy handling the fact that I'm the first in my family to pursue an advanced degree given that they don't really know how it's like and can't help me on certain issues like funding or the general experience of going to grad school, so I can only rely on help from mentors I've had, other graduate students, my best friend who's about to graduate from grad school this year, professors I know, etc.

I agree. Don't even attempt at lying to the committee. Not only is it morally wrong, but it's not professional as well and you do not want the school to view you in that light as a person not taking graduate school seriously. Be 100% honest in your explanation.

I applied for their EdM Psychological Counseling program and submitted my application back on January 15th, which was their priority deadline. A few days ago, I emailed them and they said that students usually hear back from TC at the end of March at the latest though some programs do take a bit longer to send out decisions. If I don't hear anything back from them by this week, then I guess that the first week is when I'll probably be hearing back from them. They are the very last school I'm waiting to hear back from.

I was worried in regards to a similar case that happened to me while in college. During my very first semester, I dealt with a lot of personal issues as well as a difficulty transition from high school to college and my grades during that time started off not so good. I got 3 Cs/C+s, only 1 A, and a P for a Pass/Fail class. For the next 3 years, I drastically improved on my work ethic in college, got tutors for classes I needed help in, and my grades turned a complete 180 to where I started getting a mix of As and Bs and then eventually, mostly straight As with one or two A-s in the mix. When I was applying to grad school, I wrote a short explanation in my SOP in regards to that rough start in my college career where the grades on my transcript would be very visible to them and said something along the lines of: "I've experienced difficulties with studying effectively in school like the students I plan on working with. As reflected on my transcript, I struggled in my first semester of college but learned how to improve my studying skills after reaching out for help from an academic coach and excelled in my courses since then." Just be very honest when writing the short explanation in your essay regarding that F in your transcript, but also make sure to state what you learned after that incident and what you did to improve your work in college after getting that grade and so. Think of it as when you're asked by an employer about any weaknesses you have and then explaining how you plan on turning that weakness into a strength. Hope my advice helps.

I'm currently waiting to hear back from Teachers College, Columbia University in regards to their EdM Psychological Counseling program (and this is the very last school I'm waiting to hear back from). I emailed them a few days ago and told me that students should hear back by around the end of March at the latest. I really want to make my decision pretty soon before April 15th.

I actually heard back from Hunter over a week ago and I was accepted into their MSEd school counseling program. Perhaps for your program, they may be taking longer to send out decisions.

I just received an email from them and they told me that I should receive my result into the counseling program by around the end of this month at the latest though some programs do take a bit longer to make decisions.

I'm in the same position as you right now though for different program of study. I was admitted to the MA program for school counseling at NYU but I'm also waiting to hear back from Columbia in regards to their psychological counseling program at TC. It's actually the last school for me that I'm waiting to hear back from and I want to know so bad as to what they decided. Hope I hear back from them very soon! ?

I got my third acceptance earlier today through an email when I was riding in the car with my parents heading home.

Hmm. That's weird given that I applied to both Columbia and NYU for the School Counseling program in the fall and I'm still waiting to hear back from Columbia as well, but I was actually accepted to NYU's counseling program yesterday. I'm sorry about your rejection. Hope you do get into the other program!

I got my second acceptance to NYU Steinhardt and I was working on one of my assignments for class before I got the email!

I got my first acceptance last Wednesday to Fordham University for their school counseling program. I walked into my lab shift in the morning at school and as soon as I sat down, I opened my email on my laptop, saw an admissions decision email from the school and immediately, my heart started pumping and hands getting sweaty. I was so ecstatic about my acceptance but had to react quietly without causing a disturbance since there were participants working in the lab room. I'm still waiting to hear back from the other three other schools I applied to.

I'm from New York and went upstate for my undergrad and I applied to four graduate programs back home in NYC for my masters in school counseling. Teachers College, Columbia University (EdM) New York University Steinhardt (MA) Fordham University Graduate School of Education (MSE) Hunter College School of Education (MSEd) I recently got accepted to Fordham's school counseling program for this upcoming fall, which is going to be right after I graduate from my undergrad this Spring, which is exciting! I'm still waiting to hear back from the other three schools and then I'll come to a decision once I get all of them.

Sorry. Posted in wrong topic.